How to search Internet like a spy

Google's secret hacks revealed

Published: 05/10/2013 at 11:45 PM

(Los Angeles Times) Try: “filetype:xls site:za confidential”

The National Security Agency just declassified a hefty 643-page research manual called Untangling the Web: A Guide to Internet Research (PDF) that, at least at first, doesn’t appear all that interesting. That is, except for one section on page 73: “Google Hacking.”

“Say you’re a cyberspy for the NSA and you want sensitive inside information on companies in South Africa,” explains Kim Zetter at Wired. “What do you do?”

Well, you could type the following advanced search into Google — “filetype:xls site:za confidential” — to uncover a trove of seemingly private spreadsheets. How about an Excel file containing Russian passwords? Try: “filetype:xls site:ru login.”

These are just two examples of the numerous private files that are inadvertently uploaded to the Internet, and can be accessed if you know the right Google search terms.